


A Chosen Path

by watcherofworlds



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-11
Updated: 2016-09-11
Packaged: 2018-08-14 09:53:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8008930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watcherofworlds/pseuds/watcherofworlds
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Winifred Barnes hadn't objected when Rebecca had told her that she wanted to be a nurse. She DID object when, a few days after James shipped out, Rebecca told her that she wanted to volunteer as an Army nurse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Chosen Path

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to truth_renowned for the title!

Winifred Barnes hadn’t objected when Rebecca had told her that she wanted to be a nurse. A nurse was a proper occupation for a young lady. Steve’s mother Sarah, Winifred’s dear friend, had been a nurse.

She did object when Rebecca told her that she wanted to volunteer as an Army nurse. This was only days after James had shipped out, so if Winifred jumped to conclusions, who could blame her?

“You’ve been chasing after James your whole life,” she scolded, as if Rebecca were five years old again. “Follow your own path for once.”

“I’m not chasing after Jimmy!” Rebecca snapped. “Maybe you hadn’t noticed, but there’s a war going on. They need all the help they can get, and I may as well put the skills I learned helping Jimmy patch up Steve to good use.” 

“Don’t you take that tone with me, young lady!” Winifred shouted defensively in reply, because she didn’t have the heart to tell her daughter that the sort of injuries she’d encounter in a field hospital were a million times worse than any that had ever been inflicted on Steve. “You are not shipping off overseas, and that’s final!” Rebecca crossed her arms and settled into a tense, defensive posture.

“Well, I hate to break it to you Mom,” she said, with the sort of smug grin that she must have learned from her brother, “but you can’t tell me what to do anymore.”

“I can if you’re about to do something foolish,” Winifred retorted. Rebecca’s shoulders tensed. Her jaw clenched. She showed her anger the way her brother would, the way a man would. 

“It is no longer up to you to pass judgement on my life choices,” she said through gritted teeth. “I’m doing this, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.” Winifred sighed.

“I know there isn’t,” she said quietly, “but  _ please _ Rebecca. Don’t do this. I can’t bear the thought of losing two of my children to this war.”

“I’m not going to be in combat, Mom!” Rebecca cried in an exasperated tone, rolling her eyes. “I’ll be safer than Jimmy!” Winifred tensed. What Rebecca said was true, but that didn’t exactly make her feel better. She disliked being reminded of the dangers her oldest child was heading into, especially since he’d been denied the right to choose that Rebecca was wielding so zealously. 

“That’s not the point,” she muttered, unable to meet her daughter’s eyes. “I just want you to be safe. Both of you. I can’t do anything for your brother but pray. I want to be able to do more for you than that, but I can’t if you’re on the other side of the ocean. I can’t protect you the way that a mother should protect her daughter.” 

“I know Mom,” Rebecca sighed, “but...I have to do this. There’s already been so many casualties in this war, and there’s bound to be even more before it’s over. If I can do anything, anything at all, to make sure that at least some of those casualties make it home, then I should. It’s the right thing to do.” Winifred stared at her, trying to figure out when she’d become so much like her brother. Maybe she always had been. It was hard to tell.

“Alright,” she said. “Clearly there’s no changing your mind. Just promise me you’ll be safe, and that you’ll look out for your brother.”

“I promise,” Rebecca said. She said nothing about how, as the older sibling, James should have been the one looking out for her, and not the other way around. Both Rebecca and her mother were well aware of which one of the two of them was the more sensible.


End file.
